Category: culturePage 2 of 3

Yucatan color

A nice sample of Yucatecan color from saguayo’s photostream.

Maria Felix

Maria Felix epitomizes the glamor of the classic Mexican cinema. Her fame is linked with that of the great Veracruz composer and pianist Agustin Lara. In this homage…

Maya symbology: jaguar

According to joiseyshowaa, from whose photoset this image of an architectural element at the Maya site of Lamanai in western Belize is is taken, the decorative pattern represents…

Maximon graphic

Here’s a nicely laid-out graphic about Maximon that appeared in La Prensa a few years ago. Click the image to view a larger version at Tim Hilliard’s website.

Heist

The theft of Impressionist paintings in Switzerland has made news lately. In fact, it has caused the insurance on art exhibitions to go up for museums around the…

Scratchboard Maximon

This Maximon image was created on scratchboard by student artist Edwin Harris, Jr., of Georgia. On his blog he gives a little background on the process.

Guatemalan paintings from Arte Maya Tz’utuhil

Arte Maya Tz’utuhil is a one-man business of Joe Johnston, based in San Francisco. Its website is www.artemaya.com. Johnson travels to Guatemala once or twice a year to…

Nim Po’t, textile and folk art cooperative, La Antigua, Guatemala

Nim Po’t is a kind of folk art cooperative or consignment market located near the Arco at 5a Avenida Norte #29 in La Antigua, Guatemala. The quality of…

Mayan glyphs as a truetype font set

This truetype typeface is a free download from dafont.com. It would be nice if the meaning of the glyphs was documented, but for the price who can complain?

Rompope

Rompope is a drink made with eggs, milk, and vanilla.It is often called “Mexican eggnog.” It can be eaten with a spoon like ice cream, although men mix…

Wines of Baja

Baja’s Guadalupe Valley is an up-and-coming wine region. This January, in California’s Napa wine region, there will be a tasting of wines from the region. Vinography: A Wine…

Another Andy Palacio video

Andy Palacio

I got a CD by Garifuna artist Andy Palacio for Christmas.

Guatemalan slingshots

Slingshots are remarkably effective weapons for hunters. In Guatemala, slingshots embody centuries of tradition, often including Maya or Christian imagery. They are the subject of this book by…

Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan

This book, one of the classics of travel writing, is now available online via Google Book Search. It’s a funky scan, but at least it’s not an appalling…

Maximon masks

El Curandero Gallery, located in La Antigua, Guatemala, looks like a good source for Guatemalan masks, wooden figures, slingshots, ceramics, paintings, and textiles. Among their current listings are…

First Tortilla

The First Tortilla, a children’s book by Rudolfo Anaya (University of New Mexico Press, 2007) has received the New Mexico Library Association and the New Mexico International Reading…

Museums in Merida

Working Gringos has put together the best list of museums in Merida that I have seen. They include Yucatan Museum of Popular Art (Museo de Arte Popular de…

From trash to cash

While we’re on the subject of Rufino Tamayo paintings, I should mention, in case you haven’t heard, this story. It seems not everyone is a fan of brightly…

$3 million Mexican painting removed from auction

Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo’s Trovador (Troubador) has been removed from a Christie’s auction after fans of the painting filed a lawsuit challenging the work’s sale by Randolph College….

Cell phones in Cancun

That’s the title of this colorful painting by Namaste Nancy. The painting’s effectiveness comes from its reduction of elements to just what is essential. Read more at her…

Dia de los Muertos: A New Beginning

That’s the name of an exhibit that uns through December 16 at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, “the nation’s largest Latino arts institution and the…

Por que no te callas?

This song is going viral in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world.

How do you say “a sad situation” in Ayapan Zoque?

Apparently only two people know. But the last two speakers of this indigenous Mexican language refuse to talk to each other. The two men in their 70s from…

Aged chocolate

If you like your chocolate vintage, talk to the archeaologists at Cornell, U Penn, and UC Berkeley. They have found residue of chocolate in a large number of…

Fiambre, a classic Guatemalan dish

Fiambre is only served on the Day of the Dead (Día de los Difuntos)  and All Saints Day (Día de los Santos) — on November 1st or 2nd….

VIP behind bars

A new film from Guatemalan director Elías Jiménez Trachtenberg, VIP La Otra Casa, has just been released. According to Inner Diablog,” A government official called Juan Ramos is…

Unusual Guatemalan embroidery

Luis Figueroa, a columnist for Prensa Libre, maintains a blog called by the same name as his column, “Carpe Diem.” His most recent post included this image of…

Inventory of a Dawn

Here’s a poem by the Guatemalan poet Luis de Lión, who was disappeared during the war. (Please tell me if I have mistranslated anything.) Inventory of a dawn…

Maya hot chocolate

A site called It’s Crazy Delicious has posted a recipe for what they call “Mayan Hot Chocolate.” Well, why not? I’m not exactly what’s Maya about it —…